Singing teachers often recommend critical listening activities to their students, both to expose them to great performances by various singing artists and thereby set standards and provide references to evaluate their own work in practice sessions, singing lessons, and performances. However, inexperienced students often admit that they do not truly understand what they are supposed to be listening for in these recordings, falling back on pre-existing aesthetic preferences to judge the quality of the performances rather than considering and detecting perceptual information that can be connected to the physiological, acoustical, and musical characteristics of the performers and their artistic interpretations. Using the principles of “technical ear training” from sound engineering education (e.g. Corey & Benson, 2016, p. 3) that seek to strengthen critical listening skills, two university singing programs (Coastal Carolina Univerisity/USA and Musikhögskolan i Piteå/Sweden) adopted a listening activity to improve timbre discrimination skills in classical and CCM singing students. 

In a procedure developed with project advisor, M. Nyssim Lefford, Ph.D, M.S. (specialist in music production, music cognition, and auditory perception), each subject selected a short excerpt from a recording of a favorite singing artist with a similar voice type to their own and uploaded it into a program that allows the application of frequency filters. The excerpt was first played in its original form, followed by a series of repetitions using different combinations of filters applied to various frequency bands selected by the researchers to isolate important perceptual features of the singer’s voice and interpretational choices. This procedure was repeated two subsequent times with new student-selected recordings. Students wrote reflections after each session guided by general questions from the researchers. Results will be discussed and compared between the two subject groups along with implications for singing pedagogy and curricula and suggestions for future work. 

Intelligent Mixing Systems (IMS) are rapidly becoming integrated into music mixing and production workflows. The intelligences of a human mixer and IMS can be distinguished by their abilities to comprehend, assess, and appreciate context. Humans will factor context into decisions, particularly concerning the use and application of technologies. The utility of an IMS depends on both its affordances and the situation in which it is to be used. The appropriate use for conventional purposes, or its utility for misappropriation, is determined by the context. This study considers how context impacts mixing decisions and the use of technology, focusing on how the mixer’s understanding of context can inform the use of IMS, and how the use of IMS can aid in informing a mixer of different contexts.

This study examined the recording session management approaches of two music producers, Phil Harding and Greg Haver, to ascertain if and how their different approaches impact the outcomes of music production projects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each producer to gain insight into their approaches generally, and also, as a point of comparison, their work on the educational Gus Dudgeon Foundation/Joint Audio Media Education Support (GDF/JAMES) summer recording sessions specifically. Thematic analyses of the interviews revealed that the producers’ respective approaches are influenced by the genres in which each predominantly works. Harding, a pop producer, is very systematic. Haver, who is better known for his work in rock, uses an organic approach. Consequently, there were some clear differences in their decision making and organizational strategies at the GDF/JAMES sessions. The producers used different criteria to choose a project/artist. Each used distinctive approaches in pre-production (i.e. work on song arrangements and other technical musical decisions), production (recording) and mixing. Still, both produced pop recordings that largely conform to pop norms. Both recordings have similar pop arrangements and meet commercial standards. Findings provide new understanding of session management techniques that can benefit both music production education and practitioners. 

Record production environments are filled with information that influences action, decision-making and work. Different information is available for different work. The production process involves coordinating work among a diverse group of collaborators. Each collaborator contributes specialized perspectives and work to the production. To coordinate their work, information must be shared. We can build a deeper understanding of the production process by observing information needs, how information influences actions and decisions, and how it is shared.

 Though not widely embraced in record production research, perceptual and cognitive approaches focus on the detection, (mental) integration and utilization of information, sensory and otherwise. Ecological approaches, in particular, capture context and individualistic vantages by modeling relationships between the information specific perceivers are able to detect and what objects/actors in the environment afford.  

 This chapter uses ecological and cognitive framings to examine production environments; the distribution of work; communication among expert collaborators; collaboration when perspectives and goals differ; and utilizing technology to mediate communications and manipulate recorded artifacts. Special attention is paid to producers because of the unusual role they play in coordinating activities among collaborators who share a working environment. The approaches discussed can easily be adapted to suit other types of collaborator.

Intelligent Mixing Systems (IMS) are being integrated into mixing workflows, however, there is little discussion around how these technologies are impacting mixing practices. This study explores the possibilities and pitfalls of IMS, by comparing to the use of Computer Assisted Design (CAD) tools in the wider design context. The aim of this paper is to take advice from the field of CAD about the potential benefits and known issues of computer-assistance in creative work, thereby allowing audio engineers to take more informed decisions regarding the use of IMS within their workflows.

Professional artistic contexts, such as studio-based music production, are rarely investigated in naturalistic decision-making (NDM) research, though creative work is characterised by uncertainty, risk, a lack of clearly definable goals, and in the case of music production, a complex socio-technical working environment that brings together a diverse group of specialized collaborators. This study investigates NDM in the music production studio. In music production, there is a professional role explicitly tasked with taking decisions—the (record) producer. The producer, as a creative collaborator, is differentiated as a problem-solver, solution creator and goal setter. This investigation looks at the producer’s metacognitive abilities for reflecting on the nature of problems and decisions. An important challenge for this study is to develop methods for observing decision-making without unrealistically reducing the amount of uncertainty around outcomes or creative intention within a studio production. In the face of that, a method is proposed that combines socio-cultural musicology and cognitive approaches and uses ethnographic data. Preliminary findings shed light on how the producer in this study self-manages his decisions and his interactions with, and in response to, the production environment; how decisions and actions sustain collaboration; how experience is utilized to identify scenarios and choose actions; and the kinds of strategies employed and their expected outcomes. Findings provide evidence that exercising producing skills and performing production tasks involve metacognitive reflection.

Audio quality is of concern up and down the production chain from content creation to distribution. The technologies employed at each step - equipment, processors like codecs, downmix algorithms and loudspeakers - all are scrutinized for their impact. The now well-established field of audio quality research has developed robust methods for assessments. To form a basis for this work, research has investigated how perceptual dimensions are formed and expressed. The literature includes numerous sonic attributes that may be used to evaluate audio quality. All together, these findings have provided benchmarks and guidelines for improving audio technology, setting standards in the manufacture of sound and recording equipment, and furthering the design of reproduction systems and spaces. They are, however, by comparison rarely used to inform recording and mixing practice. In this paper quality evaluation and mixing practice are compared on selected counts and observations are made on what points these fields may mutually inform one another.

Music production involves coordinating efforts among diverse experts, namely recording engineers and musicians. Each contributes specialized work to the production by utilizing shared resources such as music, recorded sound and technologies. To coordinate their efforts, a producer provides information about the production and resources as pertinent to individual contributions. Similar modes of communication and coordination have been studied in scientific research communities. In cognitive science and the sociology of science, “boundary objects” (Star and Griesemer: 1989) and “trading zones” (Galison: 1999) are concepts used to explain how this coordination is enabled, and have relevance for music production.

This chapter investigates one of the more enigmatic aspects of music production: producing. Currently, there exist a wide-range of technologies that enable many of the technical and creative tasks associated with the production process, but few of these tools directly enable producing. The development of such tools is hindered by a lack of depth in out understanding of the producer’s expertise. To gain insight into what producers do to influence the sonic attributes of recordings, this study takes a close look at producing vocal recordings in popular music. After providing an historical context for modeling and emulating the process of producing, the material delves into various perceptual, cognitive and biological perspectives to provide insight into the types of audible patterns found in produced vocal recordings. This combination of insights provides evidence to suggest that producers attend to and emphasizes vocal affectations as a means to enhance communication with the listening audience. In the concluding discussions, the chapter revisits the problems of modeling the producer’s expertise and considers varied potential approaches.

Given the rate and nature of change in media technology, future audio engineers should expect to manage production scenarios of greater complexity using less proven techniques. Meeting these challenges will require— in addition to knowledge of essential recording technology and established methods— analytical skills, the ability to self-direct inquiry and flexible, open-ended capacities in problem solving. We have designed an undergraduate audio technology course that provides opportunities to develop these capacities. Our approach situates students in an authentic research environment. By deconstructing and assessing published research, contrasting varied approaches, vetting solutions, evaluating results and designing their own research plans, students gain knowledge and skills that support professionalism in both the research lab and the recording studio.